Patentable/Patents/US-12026290
US-12026290

Steganography of hardware intellectual property

PublishedJuly 2, 2024
Assigneenot available in USPTO data we have
Inventorsnot available in USPTO data we have
Technical Abstract

In general, embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods, apparatus, systems, computer program products, computing devices, and computing entities for modifying a design of a hardware IP. According to one embodiment, a method is provided, the method including generating a control and data flow graph (CDFG) representation for portions of the design. The method further includes partitioning the CDFG representation into a set of partitioned sub-graphs. The method further includes, for each partitioned sub-graph, generating a merged sub-graph to form a set of merged sub-graphs. Generating the merged sub-graph for each partitioned sub-graph involves generating a container sub-graph and merging the container sub-graph with the partitioned sub-graph to form the merged sub-graph. The container sub-graph may be a modification of the partitioned sub-graph with respect to an identified feature, in some examples. The method further includes synthesizing a modified design of the hardware IP including the set of merged sub-graphs.

Patent Claims
17 claims

Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.

2

2. The method of claim 1, wherein partitioning the CDFG representation comprises using a partitioning algorithm configured to minimize cut edges of the set of partitioned sub-graphs.

3

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one feature comprises at least one of types of operations, a number of possible branches, or a number of constants and variables integrated in the partitioned sub-graph.

4

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the container sub-graph comprises at least one of a randomly generated sub-graph, a modification of the partitioned sub-graph, or a sub-graph retrieved from a data storage.

5

5. The method of claim 1, wherein merging the partitioned sub-graph and the container sub-graph is performed using a K-way graph merging algorithm.

6

6. The method of claim 1, wherein merging the partitioned sub-graph and the container sub-graph is performed by implementing a key-based selector configured to control activation of functionality represented by the partitioned sub-graph or functionality represented by the container sub-graph.

7

7. The method of claim 1, wherein merging the partitioned sub-graph and the container sub-graph is performed by implementing one or more derived keys, and functionality represented an end of the partitioned sub-graph regenerates the one or more derived keys based at least in part on an inserted key.

8

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a merged sub-graph is further based at least in part on performing a data-path locking on the merged sub-graph.

9

9. The method of claim 8, wherein performing the data-path locking on the merged CDFG sub-graph comprises adding a key dependency on at least one existing value so that the at least one existing value is restored only if a key is correctly applied.

11

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein partitioning the CDFG representation comprises using a partitioning algorithm configured to minimize cut edges of the set of partitioned sub-graphs.

12

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one feature comprises at least one of types of operations, a number of possible branches, or a number of constants and variables integrated in the partitioned sub-graph.

13

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the container sub-graph comprises at least one of a randomly generated sub-graph, a modification of the partitioned sub-graph, or a sub-graph retrieved from a data storage.

14

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein merging the partitioned sub-graph and the container sub-graph is performed using a K-way graph merging algorithm.

15

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein merging the partitioned sub-graph and the container sub-graph is performed by implementing a key-based selector configured to control activation of functionality represented by the partitioned sub-graph or functionality represented by the container sub-graph.

16

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein merging the partitioned sub-graph and the container sub-graph is performed by implementing one or more derived keys, and functionality represented an end of the partitioned sub-graph regenerates the one or more derived keys based at least in part on an inserted key.

17

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein generating a merged sub-graph is further based at least in part on performing a data-path locking on the merged sub-graph.

18

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein performing the data-path locking on the merged CDFG sub-graph comprises adding a key dependency on at least one existing value so that the at least one existing value is restored only if a key is correctly applied.

20

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein partitioning the CDFG representation comprises using a partitioning algorithm configured to minimize cut edges of the set of partitioned sub-graphs.

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Patent Metadata

Filing Date

January 31, 2022

Publication Date

July 2, 2024

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